


cliffs of chalk against the sea

by codedredalert



Series: One Piece daemon AU snapshots [7]
Category: His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman, One Piece
Genre: Established Relationship, Intimacy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-17 15:11:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20623109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/codedredalert/pseuds/codedredalert
Summary: If Basil Hawkins has learned anything, it's that loving Trafalgar Law means letting him keep his secrets.





	cliffs of chalk against the sea

**Author's Note:**

> Set in their North Blue days/ before they reached the Grand Line. 
> 
> Daemons are animal manifestations of peoples' souls. The daemon is usually a different biological sex from the person.The animal form a daemon takes is indicative of a person's character -- eg. dogs are loyal servants. The type of animal usually shifts until the person is an adult, and then it settles as one form. Touching someone's daemon is taboo and can cause overwhelming feelings because it's someone's soul.

Trafalgar came and went like seasons of hurricanes and droughts — a flood and storm when he was here, and a slow parched death when he wasn't.  
  
Hawkins wasn't sure what they were. He'd asked that question of his well-worn tarot deck, and was warned to never ask Trafalgar directly, or the other man would run for the hills. So, Hawkins never asked, and Trafalgar continued to sweep in and out of his life, devastating and absolutely necessary.  
  
Sometimes, though — rare and precious times— Trafalgar would invite himself in, curl up on Hawkins' bed like he owned it, and his soul-shape would be close enough to touch if only Hawkins dared.  
  
"I'm homesick for something like you, I think," confessed Trafalgar, combing his fingers through Hawkins' hair. A small burst of pleased tenderness bloomed in Hawkins' chest, only to be followed moments after by a disappointed ache.  
  
_Only 'something like'?_ Hawkins didn't ask. Questions like that only brought back the harsh storm and steel edges of Trafalgar's teeth and intellect. If Hawkins asked for more than these small moments of sideways honesty, Trafalgar would turn on him, snarling, or disappear wordless into the night.  
  
(Hawkins knew this well, but the want was no less overwhelming for knowing.)  
  
Trafalgar dropped his cheek to Hawkins' shoulder with a sigh, and looked over to where Hawkins' white hawk daemon perched on the headboard. His dark-inked fingers untangled from Hawkins' long tresses and reached out for her wistfully. Hawkins tensed, but Trafalgar didn't presume to touch Hawkins' soul, letting his hand drop a hair's breadth away, his arm falling to bar Hawkins' chest.  
  
"Used to be a bird too, when I was a kid," Trafalgar said abruptly, in an uncharacteristically talkative mood. His hand went back to Hawkins' hair, absently picking at a stray knot. "White, like yours. Things were a lot simpler then. Not necessarily better, but simpler. Might be missing that, who knows."  
  
Trafalgar's daemon was a snow leopard, and she stretched out long and liquid against Trafalgar's side in that way only cats could. Trafalgar's body was between them, but sometimes the leopard's tail would flick lazily and nearly graze Hawkins' leg, and Hawkins' heart would catch in his throat for a second.  
  
Hawkins' daemon had settled without too much fanfare, and he had never spared a further thought for the forms she had before. Now that Trafalgar brought it up, he supposed he felt lucky that her form was more admirable than he had hoped, growing up. He looked back at Trafalgar's daemon and had to wonder what kind of man could be dissatisfied if this was the form his soul had taken — versatile, powerful, and undeniably beautiful.   
  
Trafalgar, even when he deigned to peel back the layers of himself, was still incomprehensible.  
  
"She's still white," remarked Hawkins, staring at Trafalgar's soul and not knowing what else to say, but knowing with certainty that something had to be said. "Your daemon."  
  
Trafalgar blinked at him and then laughed without sound, body shaking with amusement that was all too obvious when he was pressed up against Hawkins' ribs. He laughed harder silently than Hawkins had ever witnessed from him, nothing like the insincere noises he made when he scorned marines or those who made demands of him.  
  
"Yeah," agreed Trafalgar, once he had calmed slightly. His amusement curled the tone of his voice, and his eyes gleamed in the candlelight. "She's still that."  
  
He pulled Hawkins in to kiss him, and spoke no more fractured secrets that day.

**Author's Note:**

> I got pushed down the stairs into Lawkins rarepair hell as a joke but it's not a joke anymore don't look at me I have nothing to say for myself.  
(But, if you want, I have more Lawkins content on my [twitter](https://twitter.com/codedredalert?lang=en) / [insta](https://www.instagram.com/codedredalert/) / [tumblr](https://codedredalert.tumblr.com/).)  
please join my lawkins ship im so lonely


End file.
